Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Several recent maritime incidents have underscored why Amver participation is important. Two of the cases occurred in the Arctic. In all the cases, search and rescue personnel would never have known the vessels were there because they were not active in the Amver system.

The first case was brought to our attention by our Canadian friend Ken White. Ken emailed about the cruise ship grounding in the Northwest Passage. The second case, courtesy of Tradewinds, was a product tanker that grounded on a sandbar near Nunuvut. While both vessels were enrolled in the Amver system, neither was actively reporting. Would things have been different if they were reporting to Amver or would the case have been managed differently? Probably not. Since these vessels transit the Arctic they are perfect candidates to help others if necessary and therefore are encouraged to actively resume Amver reporting.

In an unrelated story Tradewinds reported the Greek ship Goliath Leader rescued 18 sailors from their lifeboat on August 27th. The Goliath Leader rescued the sailors in the South China Sea off the coast of Malaysia. Why is this case significant? Because the Goliath Leader isn't enrolled in the Amver system! We would love for NYK Lines to enroll it and the rest of their fleet.

But Amver participation is just half of the picture. Search and rescue personnel need to request Amver data when managing cases in their areas of responsibility. Together, commercial shipping can help assist in search and rescue cases from the Arctic to the Antarctic and all the waters in between.

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Amver, sponsored by the United States Coast Guard, is a unique, computer-based, and voluntary global ship reporting system used worldwide by search and rescue authorities to arrange for assistance to persons in distress at sea. Learn more at http://www.amver.com

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